Perimenopause or Anxiety or ???

I hear you Soozi, the frustration you have because no one can give you an answer

My GP told me I was in full meno because my blood tests showed my estrogen and progesterone levels were in my boots....very low. Gyno then told me until I'd had no bleeding for a year could I be considered full meno

I've tried a few different HRTs and coming off and on them is what's caused any bleeding

I don't have typical symptoms of meno, mines have been chronic imbalance, dizziness, anxiety and low mood don't get any hot flushes oh and shakiness

I've been to see a neurologist, physio, 2 ENT specialist one of them has diagnosed vistibular migraine and said that's what's making me dizzy. He prescribed me nortriptyline low dose AD which he said would help, unfortunately I had to stop them after 3 weeks due to side effects

I feel this has been the worst year of my life dizziness has not left since March last year, I've had to resign from my job, then my mum passed away in January this year, feel completely overwhelmed

Since the 8th December last year I've been taking estradot 25 patch which I change twice per week and 1xdaily utrogestan (natural progesterone)

I had a bleed with that after 2 weeks, I feel the progesterone was making the imbalance worse so I thought I'd wean myself off the HRT and take the progesterone every 2nd day then 3rd etc....I missed one tablet on Saturday and now bleeding today grrrrr😫

I'd be grateful for any of your experience with all of this Soozi or from anyone else who's going through the same

Hugs xx

Brenda

Oh Brenda you poor thing what a horrible time you've had. I started per 4 years ago when I was 49 docs told me I had labrynthitis finished up seeing a specialist and he said it wasn't lab it was peri and recommended I went on HRT. Went back to docs with results and still didn't give me HRT so struggled on, it has improved but it's not gone and sometimes I really struggle with symptoms sore ears throat feel like spiders in my ears shortness of breath lots a phlegm in the back of throat that I just can't shift moods crying sometimes hot feeling but not flushes palpitations blurd vision aches pains all over it goes on and on and can change from month to month , I've tried herbal but no good , I've started sleeping better though and don't get the horrible vertigo anymore just a bit wobbly sometimes it really can stop you living a normal life for a while but yes your right it does improve but it takes too long, I've heard its 4 years on average so I should be done by now. It's good to get other women's experiences when we have such weird symptoms think we are a bit rare and docs don't get it maybe we are the special chosen ones and we will be rewarded in later life for our pains. Hope yours keeps improving and life starts to be kinder to you x

Big hug soozi

Hi Soozi

Ive been on it 10 years this year, think it took longer as i use to be on a 6 weeks cycle, and it took 6 years to go through period changes, ive been post now for one year, you still get symptoms, but know where near as bad, your hot flushes continue as before, and they can carry on for a further 5 years after post, but some ladies are on meno for life unfortunately, depends on your body, my peri was very severe, but wasnt allowed HRT as there is cancer in the immediate family, did it through life style change.    You will be pleased to know, that when your are post, and your classed as post, when you have gone a full year without a period, when that happens you feel you have got the balance back somewhat and it becomes easier to live with, so, it does get better, stick withh it, my friend was only on it for 5 years, ive known others as short as 3, so, you may be a lucky one.

Oh thanks Soozi, it's so scary when you get symptoms that you don't understand and the worry that your going to be left like this. I've got terrible motion sickness, even my husband turning over in bed annoys me lol 🙊 God bless him fir putting up with me

My sister who's 1 year younger than me is also in peri and her symptoms are completely different to me, she has hot flushes, headache and a sore neck, she can't understand why I get so upset with this imbalance

Hopefully it will go soon I don't care if I get hot flushes if I could just feel steady and clear head instead of this woozy shaky dizzy phase I'm in

Hope your strange symptoms ease soon as well...I'm sure they will

Sending you hugs & love ((((💗))))

Brenda

Hi shelagh, sorry to hear your feeling so ill at the moment. I think your symptoms seem very much like your hormones have started to fluctuate and imbalance

I have all of the symptoms you have and more apart from the sweating/flushing

If I were you I would go back to my GP and ask for blood tests to be done again then go through the results with the GP to see if your fsh levels have risen, even if they come back normal at this stage you could still be sensitive to the hormonal changes of peri

Some woman are more sensitive than others. I've had terrible symptoms for a year but blood tests I've had done showed my estrogen levels had fallen dramatically

My worst symptom is I feel off balance all of the time which causes me to feel drunk, woozy head, weak and shaky legs oh and the anxiety and feelings of dread are terrible

I also keep thinking my GP has missed something and that I am suffering from an undiagnosed condition...id never have thought the change of life could make you so ill, I've now had to resign from my job as I was off sick all the time

Please try not to worry as I'm sure if there was anything sinister wrong it would have been picked up by now

I hope you find out soon if it's your hormones so that you can then make a decision what's the best way forward to deal with it and get some quality of life back

Best wishes

Brenda X

thats just how it all started for me just before I turned 50, I was shopping in town with my husband and bam felt so faint had to go home he put me to bed and I just shook and shivered for about and hour felt completely out of it he then took me to hospital they said nothing wrong with me, next day thought oh it's gone in fine went out for a bike ride bam again, this kept happening so I went to the doctors he said no it's not menopause had loads of test done all normal. Four years later I'm still having test but they have decided I'm now in menopause, the severe dizziness nausea and anxiety was my first stage it got less severe then aches pains sore ear and throat ringing in my ears(hot flushes but they were nothing really ) tiredness inability to concentrate weak legs crashing feeling like when you have done too much exercise , I too used to be very fit but now can't plan anything as I don't know how I'm going to feel. It comes and goes it is at its worste in the beginning though so take comfort this does improve and you will get back to work , I did have a lot of time off in the beginning and searched for answers so I know how your feeling, I got to see an ent specialist he said he's seen a lot of women my age with these symptoms and it's all goes away when your periods stop. I was prescribed migraine medication for 2 years it did help a lot, I still have shortness of breath though and they hav'nt got a clue keep telling me it's not related to menopause I'm now waiting for heart blood test back they really know how to stress you out don't they !! Keep calm carry on and we are all here to listen x

Hi

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and for your quick reply. I must admit the more I read the more I'm thinking that all my symptoms are due to the menopause in some way.

Never in a million years did I imagine you could ever feel this poorly from the menopause .

I think I will ask my doctor to test my hormone levels in my blood and see what that brings and even if it doesn't bring up anything I'm going to ask her to refer me to a menopause clinic or even ask her to give me HRT if possible. I really am at the end of my tether, I can't work, I have no social life, I have nothing to lose other than ask for this treatment now.

You mentioned you having a heart blood test, what exactly does that mean if you don't mind me asking ? Xx

Hi Brenda

Thanks for your reply

Yes I'll ask for blood tests again nxt week when I have my GP appt. I will also ask her about referring me to a menopause clinic and about hrt.

Never did I imagine menopause involved illness like this. It's utterly dreadful.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply

Wow! You sound just like me! I got sick in January too. Kind of out of the blue. Had no insurance, so was trying to wait to see a doctor until insurance kicked in, on February 1st. Was so sick on January 30th, felt like I was having a heart attack, I brought down and Wendy's to hospital. Hospital performed ekg, blood tests, heart monitoring, and kept me overnight for observation. Next day, they did an abdominal ultrasound, and told me I had Gerd and gallstones. Have been taking nexium and had gallbladder removed on March 2nd, but still sick! Have so many different symptoms, don't think the doctors want to deal with me. GP just wants to give me antidepressants/anxiety medications, had cardiac CTA, normal, had brain MRI, nothing wrong, am seeing a neurologist tomorrow, and a urologist on Friday, as I've also had a recurrent UTI, and am afraid it has affected my kidneys. Wouldn't be surprised that was how this all started, had UTI since last summer, given several different antibiotics, some made me deathly ill, so they switched to something else, seemed to clear, but then came back. I am sick pretty much daily with: head pain/pressure, foggy head, weakness, shaky, chest pains/pressure, left arm pain/weakness, nausea, no appetite , weight loss, weak/wobbly legs, lethargic, can't think straight, tired all day, but can't sleep, insomnia, no strength, pins and needles in arms:hands, legs/feet, now having upper and lower back pains(probably brought on by only sitting and laying on couch. Been to hospital 3 times, now they don't even want to perform tests. Seen GP, cardiologist, and gyno. Gyno states I'm menopausal after one blood test, but offered nothing. Seems no one cares. I literally feel like I'm dying here, and don't know how much more this poor body can take. Don't understand why GP can't admit me to hospital and run a bunch of tests to rule out medical issues. At least I'd know, and could move to menopause help. This has put me into medical anxiety something terrible!

Oh gosh Debbie you sound really poorly, even worse than me , I wonder if you are in addition to the gallstones problems suffering from the hormonal issues or peri menopause. certainly the symptoms sound very similar to my own and lots of other people symptoms on here , obviously I am no expert whatsoever because I've not even been diagnosed with peri menopause myself yet but in my mind I think it is that. I wonder if anybody else answers your post who can shed more light on the subject, I really really hope so and that they can give you a bit of helpful advice . I have found it very isolating dealing with these symptoms and I presume everybody feels the same in that way, it's really awful as nobody seems to understand about it. I hope you get some replies which can at least make you feel like you're getting some support, good advice and tips . Think I'll be getting some vitamin B6 and B12 tomorrow. Let me know how you are doing and good luck

Debbie.............by any chance, when you say your weak, when you lying on the bed, do you feel like the bed is holding you up, and when sitting on the couch do you feel that you have to lean back into the couch, because your too weak to hold yourself up when seated?? and when you try to rest, or, sleep, do yu feel like your falling, and all of a sudden kick out, like a jerky movement??

Hi shelagh

I went to docs a couple of months ago again after a really bad few weeks of symptoms, so had bloods done and the upshot was I was anaemic and was prescribed Iron tablets , I thought it might work too as shortness of breath can be a syptum of anaemia. Took the tabs for 2 months and went back for more tests to see if my bloods are normal again he said they will do a heart test on bloods too so no idea how that works. Shortness of breath is still with me had it last week  but then I started my periods. I also had no idea perimenopause could make you feel so poorly I've often thought I'm dying after 4 years with these symptoms I'm getting getting used to it , I used to get that falling feeling and restless legs had to kick out its quiet bizar if I hadn't have gone through all these things myself I wouldn't believe it. 

Yes Elaine, all the above! I just tried to go to sleep on couch, and the jerking kept waking me up! I'm at my wits end!

Thanks, me too!

Debbie trust me thats chronic fatigue, whats made me ask you is because you had an op, I had an op 3 years ago, two days after having it i fell extremely ill, i thought i was dying, just wanted to get home, so i said nothing to the drs i was only in hospital for 4 days................it lasted for 2 weeks, then i recovered only for it to hit me again 2 months later, and i ended up in bed for 7 weeks this time, took me 7 weeks to get down the stairs and into the living room, i managed to get to the kitchen, make a coffee, sit back down  on the couch, my hand shook that much i nearly spilt the whole cup, so i decided to bring my head down to the cup, and my head was shaking like a nodding dog in the back of someones car...........ha, it scared the crap out of me, seriously thought i was going to die, i ended up at the chronic fatigue clinic after being diagnosed by a neurologist, caused by the menopause, it took me 4 months to recover from that bout and i lost over 1 half stones, peed like a racehorse throughout also, and it can cause both horrific tiredness, i slept for 12 hours during the night, woke feeling extremely ill like severe flu, drank water which, took the ill feeling away so i could sleep, got up around 10.00am, managed an hour, went back to bed slept for another 5 hours still wasnt enough,  weird dreams, jerking, shaking shook with nerves sometimes, felt sick, sugars one min were through the roof, and the next on the floor, couldnt eat anything because i kept having hypo reactions, went extremely hot, then freezing cold, skin sore too touch, came out in huge red blotches, especially after having a hot bath, turned into a measles type rash later on, which is down to histamine levels had a sore throat stuffy nose, couldnt stand for longer than 2 mins, because i felt like i was gonna pass out, couldnt get up from a sitting or laying position because of how dizzy i went, felt like i was carrying my weight in my back with pain, extremely thirsty, peed like a racehorse then because of all the peeing peed my water content out of my blood so it caused low blood volume, which then caused severe muscle cramps and thirst, i could go on debs, if you dont sleep for hours, you get insomnia instead or, as well as, and the jerking happens because your sleeping patterns our out of sinc, and part of the insominia is because your clock is out, but the jerking is called hipcogenic jerks, that was happening to me whilst i was out on the bus, sat next to someone, nearly hit a fella in the face, my arm just shot out, but my head felt so strange,could barely string two words together, or, was to weak to talk, felt incredibly ill, that is not the menopause making you feel like that, but it is the menopause causing the crashing fatigue which, is, making you feel ill like that, and if you thought the menopause couldnt make you feel that ill, then read up on chronic fatigue, the pain is from fibromaylgia which, comes with chronic fatigue, because its not just you that just gets tired, or becomes an insomniac,your muscles, tendons, tissues, joints, and nerve endings all become tired as well, and if you stub your toe, or knock the end of your fingers the pain will be tenfold, because your nerve endings become more sensitive to pain, due to the chronic fatigue, and the reason i had it straight after my surgery, is because chronic fatigue is triggered by surgery due to it being traumatic  to the nervous system, all of which is affected during menopause, i had incredible panic attacks, and they were caused by the chronic fatigue, when fatigue becomes acute, it causes adrenalin overload, it then messes your sugars up, and then female hormones, it then affects, bowels, bladder function, digestion, breathing, heart rate, bp, causes weird headaches, things that will trigger the chronic fatigue will be, surgery, viral infections, over exertion, eating large carb meals, stress,  and you had an op not long ago, and a viral infection, my op was four hours long and thats why mine came on the day after,but it may not show for a week or two after surgery, but for the first night i never slept due to insomnia, then my sugars went through the roof, then i was fine eventhough i hadnt slept, until that is, when i came to eat the next morning, and i had an almighty panic attack, low blood sugar attack all at once, scared the life out of me, never ever, do i want to feel that ill again, and it happened again couple of months after, but it started, when i started the menopause when i was 47, but it crept up on me and didnt become acute until i was 54 couldnt go back to work after a bad bout of it in 2012 still trying to keep it under control cant because of the menopause ive totally lost control of it, im still with the chronic fatigue clinic, and there are other women at the clinic on the menopause, does this help debbie?     

HI Soozi,

I too get shortness of breath. It started for me about 2 months ago. Sometimes it's with me all day and other times just a couple of bouts in a day. My Drs. seem to think it's related to anxiety but I am not sure. I am very interested in the heart blood tests your Dr. wants to run and to what you think. I have read that when estrogen and progesterone are low, you can get shortness of breath. I haven't had a period in 7 months and this started after 5 months of no period. My FSH is also high (104) when checked about 3 weeks ago too. Let me know how you are doing. I have had VERY similar symtoms as you have described. Thanks for sharing cause it makes me feel as though I'm not dying. Take care, 

Hi carmen

I will let you know when I get my results back, this shortness of breath isn't anxiety for me it is very physical I do get asthma but this is not like asthma at all, it feels like my lungs just shrink all of a sudden and I can't breath properly for a few minutes or I can wake up and have it for days, sometimes I'm just sat relaxing and it comes out of knowers so then I do get anxious its not a nice thing to have at all, my Drs don't recognise any symptoms apart from hot flushes and mood swings he said I'm lucky not to be getting them too bad , ohh really you think !!! I'm now 53 periods have nearly stopped . Do you get neck ache too sometimes can't move my head at all when I wake up, oh the insomnia has gone and I'm sleeping like a baby again thank goodness x

Yes you are describing my shortness of breath exactly. It is physical for me too and it makes me feel desperate. Thanks for reponding and I look forward to keeping in touch.

Yes, thank you. I'm going to neurologist today, so maybe they can help. I actually felt like this before my surgery, after surgery felt a bit better, and now it's come back. Wake up every day shaky, weak, nausea, and can't hardly make myself eat anything. Last several days, my back has been hurting, so it really frightens me! Thanks for taking time to explain. Will talk to them today about this.

Still sick. Saw neurologist and had neck MRI, follow up with her next week. Saw GI dr today, will be having endo and colonoscopy next month. Need to see a rheumatologist and possibly an endocrinologist. Which one diagnoses chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia?

Yes I am experiencing alot of your symptoms. I had my doctor run a stool culture and occult blood test in addition to my blood work because I never experienced a loss of appetite or any digestive issues in the past. For me the weak, tired and dizzy feeling is what most bothersome to me. I get the hot flashes through out the day, but I can live with those . The hot flashes in the night seem to have passed and the vaginal dryness. I hope this whoozy feeling with no energy pass just as well. I have noticed my period is much lighter..3 days oppose to 5 and much lighter.